1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
When the play begins the scene is taking place in the kitchen of the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, who was murdered the night before. It is day after John Wright was murdered, during the Winter, early afternoon to late morning. We can tell this because the Sheriff had sent out one of his deputies to make a fire for them that morning, so that he and the County Attorney wouldn’t freeze during their investigation that day. The people in the house this morning are the Sheriff, the County Attorney, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters.
As the play unfolds the characters, specifically Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, find themselves in the conundrum of whether or not they should hide a bird they found with its neck wrung in the crime scene; in other words, they decided to suppress evidence to protect Minnie Foster. This dilemma goes back and forth until the women decide to hide the bird. The suspense builds up to the most dramatic situation in the play as the door knob turns and the door begins to open while the women are attempting to hide the bird. They succeed right before the Sheriff and the County Attorney walk back through the door.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion in this play that causes the dramatic action to develop rapidly is when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the bird dead within the fancy box. This is the moment where the plays shifts and the women are now in control and have to decide what they are going to do about the bird.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The play takes place at this point in the 1900’s and in a rural town because of the role of women in the 1910’s, especially in the more rural places in America. Women did not have suffrage in America yet when this play is set, and if they cannot vote, they cannot serve on a jury. This skews Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters decision in hiding the bird because they fell Minnie Foster would not be treated well by a jury of men. This setting also allows for Mrs. Hale and Mrs Peters to be the characters they are in the play. To the men they are just background pieces left to clean up the house while they search for clues, but this is what lets them find the bird and have this dilemma of hiding the evidence from the men.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Who killed Mr. Wright? Who killed the bird? Should Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters suppress the evidence of the bird?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
When Mrs. Hale is first introduced to us she is your typical housewife and homemaker of the early 1900’s. She is there to clean up and at first is just making small talk with Mrs. Peters, but as the play progresses we see her start to look back and her own personal relationship with Minnie Foster and what she must’ve been through that pushed her to this point in her life. Mrs. Hale begins to have a me against myself conflict over how she feels she treated Minnie Foster and the ‘crimes’ she feels she committed against her. This, along with the me vs society struggle Mrs. Hale has with the place of women in the early 20th century, leads her to want to suppress the evidence and help Minnie Foster instead of turning it in and leaving it up to the justice system.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment in Trifles is when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale have decided to hide the bird and the men leave the room. Mrs. Hale stares at Mrs. Peters and the bird and Mrs. Peters attempts to put the box with the bird in it in her bag, but it doesn’t fit. She attempts to take the bird out of the box but falls still. The door knob starts turning, signaling the returning of them men. Mrs hale acts fast and puts the box into the pocket of her coat right before the County Attorney and Sheriff enter. This is important to the outcome of the play because it dictates what will happen to Minnie Foster. This is the only thing so far that is compelling evidence against Minnie Foster, and since the women hid the bird, she will most likely walk free.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Trifles means something of little value or importance so we are looking for imagery that usually wouldn’t mean much, but because of the circumstance of play, mean more than usual.
The rocking chair that Mrs Wright is in when is a trifle. It is something and somewhere that does not mean much because it is where Mrs. Wright would usually be around the house sewing or doing small chores, but when Mrs. Hale shows up and sees her there, this chair is a place of power. She is the only one who knows what happened, and instead of doing work, she is just sitting there as if she is contemplating what just happened.
The knotted sewing that Mrs. Wright messed up is also something that usually is nothing. The little things in this play that usually mean nothing have so much meaning behind them. This knotting is no different. It paints an image of nervousness within Mrs. Wright as if she were struggling with something. The other women mention this as well.
The bird and the cage are again nothing of importance in a regular day, but in this play they can mean so much more than the regular or even the evidence that they are suppressing. The cage and the bir can be taken as a metaphor for her life. She felt trapped in a cage because of her husband, but to open and get rid of her cage she had to kill her husband, just like she did the bird.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
-Breaking regular social norms of the times
-Independence
-Reflecting on who you are and what you’ve done
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Kids are not really mentioned throughout this play, but Trifles does challenge the regular notion of the wife/husband relationship. It challenges the notion at the time of how a wife should be allowed to act out against her husband. It also talks of how alive Minnie Foster was before she became Mrs. Wright, as if she were a better off before.
When the play begins the scene is taking place in the kitchen of the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, who was murdered the night before. It is day after John Wright was murdered, during the Winter, early afternoon to late morning. We can tell this because the Sheriff had sent out one of his deputies to make a fire for them that morning, so that he and the County Attorney wouldn’t freeze during their investigation that day. The people in the house this morning are the Sheriff, the County Attorney, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters.
As the play unfolds the characters, specifically Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, find themselves in the conundrum of whether or not they should hide a bird they found with its neck wrung in the crime scene; in other words, they decided to suppress evidence to protect Minnie Foster. This dilemma goes back and forth until the women decide to hide the bird. The suspense builds up to the most dramatic situation in the play as the door knob turns and the door begins to open while the women are attempting to hide the bird. They succeed right before the Sheriff and the County Attorney walk back through the door.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion in this play that causes the dramatic action to develop rapidly is when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the bird dead within the fancy box. This is the moment where the plays shifts and the women are now in control and have to decide what they are going to do about the bird.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The play takes place at this point in the 1900’s and in a rural town because of the role of women in the 1910’s, especially in the more rural places in America. Women did not have suffrage in America yet when this play is set, and if they cannot vote, they cannot serve on a jury. This skews Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters decision in hiding the bird because they fell Minnie Foster would not be treated well by a jury of men. This setting also allows for Mrs. Hale and Mrs Peters to be the characters they are in the play. To the men they are just background pieces left to clean up the house while they search for clues, but this is what lets them find the bird and have this dilemma of hiding the evidence from the men.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Who killed Mr. Wright?
Who killed the bird?
Should Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters suppress the evidence of the bird?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
When Mrs. Hale is first introduced to us she is your typical housewife and homemaker of the early 1900’s. She is there to clean up and at first is just making small talk with Mrs. Peters, but as the play progresses we see her start to look back and her own personal relationship with Minnie Foster and what she must’ve been through that pushed her to this point in her life. Mrs. Hale begins to have a me against myself conflict over how she feels she treated Minnie Foster and the ‘crimes’ she feels she committed against her. This, along with the me vs society struggle Mrs. Hale has with the place of women in the early 20th century, leads her to want to suppress the evidence and help Minnie Foster instead of turning it in and leaving it up to the justice system.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment in Trifles is when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale have decided to hide the bird and the men leave the room. Mrs. Hale stares at Mrs. Peters and the bird and Mrs. Peters attempts to put the box with the bird in it in her bag, but it doesn’t fit. She attempts to take the bird out of the box but falls still. The door knob starts turning, signaling the returning of them men. Mrs hale acts fast and puts the box into the pocket of her coat right before the County Attorney and Sheriff enter. This is important to the outcome of the play because it dictates what will happen to Minnie Foster. This is the only thing so far that is compelling evidence against Minnie Foster, and since the women hid the bird, she will most likely walk free.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Trifles means something of little value or importance so we are looking for imagery that usually wouldn’t mean much, but because of the circumstance of play, mean more than usual.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
-Breaking regular social norms of the times
-Independence
-Reflecting on who you are and what you’ve done
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Kids are not really mentioned throughout this play, but Trifles does challenge the regular notion of the wife/husband relationship. It challenges the notion at the time of how a wife should be allowed to act out against her husband. It also talks of how alive Minnie Foster was before she became Mrs. Wright, as if she were a better off before.